Super Rosen Loop Steady Run

Time: 112:46
Distance: 18.25
Map

Target: 2-3 miles warmup, 12 miles steady, 3-4 miles cooldown
Run: 2.75 miles, 12 miles averaging ~5:45, 3.5 miles

A mediocre long hard effort of 12 miles on the 7 mile Rosen Loop. My watch lost the splits somehow, but my splits ranged from 5:35 to 6:30 (a seriously uphill mile that included a GU, water, and a shirt change). The majority were in the mid-5:40s (with a few faster), so I'm going to call that the average. This loop is much more hilly than my last steady run and despite feeling great aerobically throughout I my legs felt pretty dead from the get-go. Oh well, it's another long and hard effort. I should be much better rested by the next steady effort in two weeks.

Long Rosen Loop

Time: 67:45
Distance: 10.5 mi.
Map

Nice somewhat uptempo run on a very chilly afternoon (under 20 deg.). I got out the door at about 4:00, which left me finishing just after the sun set. I put on my Ekiden pre-race playlist, a diverse list of good energy music (which, on shuffle leads to some pretty random sequences... e.g. Lil' Wayne followed by Dwight Yoakam).

Hot Damn I'm Cold

Time: 86:30
Distance: 12 mi.
Map

After waking up early feeling a bit groggy and congested and checking the thermometer (23 deg. F), I decided that I would wait until the afternoon and maybe just get in a shorter effort. I put the run off a little bit too long, though, and once I was out I got a bit anxious and decided to explore a bit which resulted in an 85 minute run instead of the 40-50 minutes that I headed out the door to do. It was all good through about 45 minutes but once I started down Hulst Road, the sun had finally really set and the wind picked up I was very, very cold. At that point I was just running home, though, so I put my head down and finished it out. Now, post-run, I definitely feel a cold coming on. I predict a mild sore throat, headache and stiffness by tomorrow.

Rosen Loop (Middle Street)

Time: 64:30
Distance: 10 mi.
Map

I think this is my first run of the fall where the temperature was below freezing heading out the door. It was a crisp cold, though, and it didn't take too much time to warm up. I decided to head a little farther once I reached Bay Road to Middle Street instead of South East Street to see if I could make this run an even 10 miles, instead of the 9.5 which I have been running it recently. That seemed to do the trick, as the final distance of this run was spot-on. I ran a little bit up-tempo from most of my recent distance runs, getting to about 6:20 pace by the time I was heading towards Bay Road. My legs are generally tired, and my right glute is sore, but nothing major to speak of.

I ran with the boys from Kings of Leon today, shuffling through all four of their albums. Unfortunately the timing of my trip to D.C. this week ensured that I would miss Kings of Leon shows both in the District early in the week and Boston later in the week.

Rosen Loop

Time: 66:09
Distance: 10 mi.
Map

Easy morning run on the Rosen Loop (with a short neighborhood add-on). It was cool and misting, but the long sleeved shirt I had on was definitely overkill after I warmed up. Hamstring got pretty tight, but I did some good exercises and stretching after I was done.

Rosen Loop

Time: 62:31
Distance: 10 mi.

Just for the hell of it, after taking yesterday off, I took a shot at running an up-tempo (6:00ish, probably close to today's target marathon pace--2:37) 10 miler to see how that would feel. Well, it felt nice to run that fast, but my hamstring was tight and sore by 5 miles. I might actually have to try to make this better in the next few weeks.

Rosen Loop

Time: 67:55
Distance: 10 mi.

Easy evening run on the Rosen Loop after putting in a full day of work. I am generally sore and was a bit tired, but I felt surprisingly good on the run. It was a cool evening, especially after I lost the race with the sun, which was somewhat refreshing. The headlights of passing cars killing my night vision was not refreshing and made me blind on more than one occasion.

Depending how my schedule goes in the next few days I'll try to get some 400s in, either tomorrow or Thursday.

Rosen Loop

Time: 64:00
Distance: 9.5 mi.
Map

Easy early morning run. I headed out the door and immediately decided that a long sleeved shirt was in order, due to the morning chill. I felt fairly good throughout and was happy to not feel the effects of yesterday's race much at all.

Bike Path, Rosen Loop

Time: 115:42
Distance: 18.5 mi.
Map

Target: 5 miles steady warmup; 10 miles averaging 5:45; 3 miles recovery
Run: 6.5 miles steady warmup; 10 miles in 56:39 (5:40 pace) starting at 6:00 and working down around 5:30; 2 miles recovery


The wetlands along the bike path

I started this run pretty early so that I could get back in time to catch some Olympic track action on sketchy live online TV from Denmark. Eliot is in town for the weekend and volunteered to bike along for the run, which was particularly nice for this hard session. After running up to his house, we headed to the bike path near Amherst College. I was shooting to start 3 miles out and got to a decent pace, but missed the first mile mark (or there isn't one?) so I really started with 2 miles from Station Road.

The first few miles on the bike path were just getting into it, 5:59 and 5:52. Once I got onto the 7-mile Rosen Loop starting on Station Road I got a bit more on pace, even over the hills. I then did four miles in 22:45 (5:41 pace), two miles in 11:04 (5:32 pace) and the Station Road mile in 5:21. Because I missed the first bike path mile I was planning, I went back onto it for a final mile where I relaxed the pace to 5:38.

Overall, I was happy with how comfortable I felt, though it would be good for these runs to more steady throughout and less progression. I was able to take some water during the run, again, and some GU around 5 miles of the hard effort. My knee felt great, so hopefully the new shoes have saved me there.

Belchertown

Time: 90:00
Distance: 13 mi.

I started out heading out on Warren Wright, the way that the Rosen Loop starts, but continued on it out to Bay Road. I messed around on a few roads out there trying to find a new loop, but ran into dead ends and I didn't want to run for a long time along the relatively busy section of Bay Road.

I seem to have developed some patellar tendonitis, particularly in my right knee. It's not too bad, but I felt it pretty strongly at both the beginning and the end of the run.

Rosen Loop Progression Run

Time: 75:00
Distance: 12 mi.

Target: Rosen loop (just shy of 7 miles) in 5:50 down to 5:20
Workout: Felt fairly comfortable running 5:40s down to 5:20s with the last mile in 5:05

I woke up early this morning to do the hard run that I should've done yesterday. It felt relatively cool, but the humidity was pretty serious. I started at the railroad tracks headed east up the first big hill and did the loop clockwise. This way I hit the high point of the entire hilly loop just after the first mile. I felt relatively comfortable the whole time, with some leg soreness bothering me more than aerobics. This was a much better workout on a far hillier course than last week's tempo.

The whole loop is less than 100m (20 sec) shy of 7 miles, so I've adjusted the splits accordingly. The first three miles were 17:00 (5:40 pace), the next 3 miles in 16:20 (5:26 pace), and the last (slightly downhill) mile in 5:05 for a total of 38:25 (5:29 pace for a full 7 miles).

Rosen Loop

Time: 64:26
Distance: 10 mi.

Morning run backwards on the standard Rosen Loop with a half mile add-on at the end to hit 10 miles. I tried to get the pace going a little bit more than I have been recently on this relatively hilly run and ended up running the last few miles at 6:15 down to 5:50ish pace.

Echo Hill, Rosen Loop

Time: 92:30
Distance: 13.5 mi.
Map


Looking East down Station Road near the end of the Rosen Loop

I'm working on getting back on the Wednesday-Sunday longer run schedule. I started off doing the short loop through Echo Hill to get in about 30 minutes before meeting up with John Tyson, who wanted to go about an hour. I was fairly tight out the door, particulalry in my glute/piriforms, which continued throughout the run despite stretching it out a few times. It was sneaky-humid, too, as it wasn't that hot, but even by about 4 miles I was sweating quite a bit. The pace slowed some towards the end of the Rosen Loop before I dropped John off at his house, which was fine with me.

Holyoke Range, Rosen Loop

Time: 63:11
Distance: 9.5 mi.


Trail in the Holyoke Range State Park

I started in the entrance to the Holyoke Range trails near Atkins and ran on the trails there for about 30 minutes before coming out the entrance on Bay Rd. From there I connected with the Belchertown half of the Rosen loop to get home. I turned onto the southern extension of the Bike Path and was accosted by horse flies! That led to about a 5:30 mile to get out of the woods up to Station Rd. and I clipped in the last mile in 6:05 feeling fairly good. I have no idea what my pace was like in the hilly trails of the first half of the run, but it couldn't have been too fast.

I do have some lingering pain and soreness in my right piriformis and occasionally my right patella. They are probably related, so I should start working on the piriformis a bit.

Rosen Loop

Time: 65:11
Distance: 9.5 mi.
Map

Morning run on a cool, rainy morning in Amherst. At 30 minutes in I put in an easy fartlek of 10 x 30 sec. hard with 60 sec. easy. My hamstrings were fairly tight while I was doing that, but my legs did loosen up as it went along. I finished heading on the bike path and all the way back Woodlot to get over an hour.

Rosen Loop

Time: 65:00
Distance: 9.5 mi.
Map

Interestingly, the "full" version of the Rosen Loop took the same amount of time as the "shorter" version that I did earlier this week. This is probably because (a) this version is not as much longer as I thought, and (b) I was running significantly faster. Coughing up some stuff, so I'm definitely actually recovering from being sick, it seems, but legs are feeling better.

Short Rosen Loop

Time: 60:00
Distance: 8.5 mi.
Map

Started with Jilane in Amherst Woods before she headed out on the east section of the bike path. I did a short version of the Rosen Loop coming back that same way.

Rosen Loop, etc.

Time: 77:30
Distance: 11.5 mi.

Easy morning run with Matt and Ian. Nice to catch up with both of these guys (and definitely worth dragging Ian out of bed for). Matt and I added on 10+ minutes around the South Amherst common during Ian's pit stop making it longer than the usual loop. Legs pretty stiff/sore from yesterday.

Rosen Loop

Time: 69:06
Distance: 10 mi.
Map

Easy morning run on the Rosen Loop with Ian before we took off for Boston. Added on a little bit before I met him to make it a round 10'er. Legs stiff and back tight... I really think I need a chrio adjustment. Looking forward to the weekend... I got a surprise message from Brian and apparently he will be in Massachusetts for the week! Good deal.

Rosen Loop, Kestrel

Time: 88:12
Distance: 12.5 mi.


Woodlot Road... most of the roads in town are still covered in snow

More slogging along on snow-covered roads. Dragged Ian out of bed to hit the roads in the morning and took off on the Rosen Loop. It was a blazing 4 degrees when I headed out the door, but triple shirts and double pants seemed to do the trick. Looped around the South Amherst common while Ian made a pit stop and then added on by Kestrel.

Legs pretty tired by the end of the run and my right peroneal was a bit tight when I woke up, definitely from slipping on the snow.